The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the implementation report on the regulatory framework for electronic communications.
Parliament underlined the fact that while the framework has made substantial progress towards achieving its aims, the EU telecoms market remains fragmented along national borders, making it difficult for businesses and citizens to fully benefit from a single market. It considered that only by having a competitive European market in high speed broadband services can innovation, economic growth and job creation be stimulated and competitive prices offered to end users.
According to the resolution, the revision of the regulatory framework should follow these objectives:
Parliament insisted in particular for the following aspects to be considered:
Consistency, regulatory certainty and competition: Members considered that all the provisions proposed by the Commission, including a single European authorisation, consumer aspects and technical arrangements for spectrum auctions, could play an important role with a view to creating a single market for communications, but that they need to be assessed in the light of that objective to maintain consistency and provide regulatory certainty so as to ensure fair and balanced competition in which European players stand every chance.
Spectrum coordination: Members are convinced that increased spectrum coordination combined with the application of common principles for spectrum use rights across the Union would constitute a key remedy for tackling the problem of lack of predictability regarding spectrum availability, thus encouraging investment and economies of scale. They emphasised that a pan-European auctioning of 4G and 5G wireless services, with a limited number of licensees collectively serving the whole territory of the EU, would enable pan-European wireless services, eroding the bases upon which roaming is built.
Stimulating innovation: Members called for a mix of different measures and all available technologies should be explored and offered to consumers, so as to prevent the deterioration of service, the blocking of access and the slowing of traffic over networks.
Consumer protection: Member States are invited to give the consumer aspects of electronic communications a much higher priority. In this regard, Members stressed the importance of:
As regards the 112 common emergency telephone number, Members called for improvements regarding caller location response time. They welcomed the Commissions work on the practical implementation of the 116 numbers, especially the missing child hotline (116000) and also called for better promotion of these numbers by the Commission.